creeping with it among the tall grass of the prairies, would decoy the deer within reach of his rifle. But, kind reader, you have seen enough of the still hunter. Let it suffice me to add, that by the mode pursued by him, thousands of deer are annually killed, many individuals shooting these animals merely for the skin, not caring even for the most valuable portions of the flesh, unless hunger, or a near market, induces them to carry off the hams.

The mode of destroying deer by fire-light, or, as it is named in some parts of the country, forest-light, never fails to produce a very singular feeling in him who witnesses it for the first time. There is something in it which at times appears awfully grand. At other times, a certain degree of fear creeps over the mind, and even affects the physical powers, of him who follows the hunter through the thick undergrowth of our woods, having to leap his horse over hundreds of huge fallen trunks, at one time impeded by a straggling grape-vine crossing his path, at another squeezed between two stubborn saplings, whilst their twigs come smack in his face, as his companion has forced his way through them. Again, he every now and then runs the risk of breaking his neck, by being suddenly pitched headlong on the ground, as his horse sinks into a hole covered over with moss. But I must proceed in a more regular manner, and leave you, kind reader, to judge whether such a mode of hunting would suit your taste

or not.

The hunter has returned to his camp or his house, has rested, and eaten of his game. He waits impatiently for the return of night. He has procured a quantity of pine-knots filled with resinous matter, and has an old frying-pan, that, for aught I know to the contrary, may have been used by his grandmother, in which the pine-knots are to be put when lighted. The horses stand saddled at the door. The hunter comes forth, his rifle slung on his shoulder, and springs upon one of them, while his son, or a servant, mounts the other, with the frying-pan and pine-knots. Thus accoutred, they proceed towards the interior of the forest. When they have arrived at the spot where the hunt is to begin, they strike fire with a flint and steel, and kindle the resinous wood. The person who carries the fire moves in the direction

judged to be the best. The blaze illuminates the near objects, but the distant parts are involved in the deepest obscurity. The hunter who bears the gun keeps immediately in front, and after a while discovers before him two feeble lights, which are produced by the reflection of the pine-fire from the eyes of the animal of the deer or wolf kind. The animal stands quite still. To one unacquainted with this strange mode of hunting, the glare from its eyes might bring to his imagination some lost hobgoblin that had strayed from his usual haunts. The hunter, however, nowise intimidated, approaches the object, sometimes so near as to discern its form, when raising the rifle to his shoulder, he fires, and kills it on the spot. He then dismounts, secures the skin, and such portion of the flesh as he may want, in the manner already described, and continues his search through the greater part of the night, sometimes until the dawn of day, shooting from five to ten deer, should these animals be plentiful. This kind of hunting proves fatal, not to the deer alone, but also sometimes to wolves, and now and then to a horse or a cow, which may have straggled far into the woods.

Now, kind reader, prepare to mount a generous, full-blood Virginia Hunter. See that your gun is in complete order, for, hark to the sound of the bugle and horn, and the mingled clamour of a pack of harriers! Your friends are waiting you, under the shade of the wood, and we must together go driving the lightfooted deer. The distance over which one has to travel is seldom felt, when pleasure is anticipated as the result: so, gallopping we go pell-mell through the woods, to some well-known place, where many a fine buck has dropped its antlers under the ball of the hunter's rifle. The servants, who are called the drivers, have already begun their search. Their voices are heard exciting the hounds, and unless we put spurs to our steeds, we may be too late at our stand, and thus lose the first opportunity of shooting the fleeting game, as it passes by. Hark, again! The dogs are in chase, the horn sounds louder and mere clearly. Hurry, hurry on, or we shall be sadly behind.

Here we are at last! Dismount, fasten your horse to this tree, place yourself by the side of that large yellow poplar, and mind you do not shoot me! The deer is fast approaching; I

will to my own stand, and he who shoots him dead wins the prize.

The deer is heard coming. It has inadvertently cracked a dead stick with its hoof, and the dogs are now so near it that it will pass in a moment. There it comes! How beautifully it bounds over the ground! What a splendid head of horns! How easy its attitudes, depending, as it seems to do, on its own swiftness for safety! All is in vain, however; a gun is fired, the animal plunges and doubles with incomparable speed. There he goes! He passes another stand, from which a second shot, better directed than the first, brings him to the ground. The dogs, the servants, the sportsman, are now rushing forward to the spot. The hunter who has shot it is congratulated on his skill or good luck, and the chase begins again in some other part of the woods.

A few lines of explanation may be required to convey a clear idea of this mode of hunting. Deer are fond of following and retracing the paths which they have formerly pursued, and continue to do so even after they have been shot at more than once. These tracks are discovered by persons on horseback in the woods, or a deer is observed crossing a road, a field, or a small stream. When this has been noticed twice, the deer may be shot from the places called stands by the sportsman who is stationed there, and waits for it, a line of stands being generally formed so as to cross the path which the game will follow. The person who ascertains the usual pass of the game, or discovers the parts where the animal feeds or lies down during the day, gives intimation to his friends, who then prepare for the chase. The servants start the deer with the hounds, and by good management, generally succeed in making it run the course that will soonest bring it to its death. But, should the deer be cautious, and take another course, the hunters, mounted on swift horses, gallop through the woods to intercept it, guided by the sound of the horns and the cry of the dogs, and frequently succeed in shooting it. This sport is extremely agreeable, and proves successful on almost every occasion.

WOLF HUNTING.

THE author of "The Backwoods of America," through the pages of the "London Sporting Review," furnishes the following account of wolf hunting in the Alleghany Mountains, Pennsylvania:

"It was about the middle of January that the inhabitants of a few townships, contiguous to each other, agreed to muster in a wolf-hunt. The season, however, was far from favourable, for, besides the great severity of the frost, the loose snow, every where, lay nearly two feet deep in the woods. But the wolves had been committing such serious depredations upon the small flocks of the farmers, that the settlers had lost all their patience, and every day's delay might be attended with no trifling loss to some individual or other in the settlement. On the occasion alluded to, however, I believe that I hardly should have been induced to turn out,' had it not been that the son of a friend of mine, in one of the Atlantic cities, happened to be spending a few weeks with me in the back-woods, a part of the world he had never before visited. It was chiefly upon his account, therefore, that, notwithstanding the inclemency of the season, and the difficulty of wading through the deep snow, I made up my mind to join in the hunt. During the preceding night, the cold (already intense) had increased in severity, so that when we breakfasted, an hour before day, the mercury in my thermometer stood at eighteen degrees below zero, or fifty degrees below the freezing point!

"With our rifles on our shoulders,-a morsel of backwoods' fare in our pockets, and high expectations to excite our breasts (particularly that of my young friend Fred.), we wended our way along a narrow track which led to the place of rendezvous; and although the degree of cold had but little abated from that already mentioned, we did not encumber ourselves with any extra clothing: our seal-skin caps were necessarily drawn down over our ears, while our hands were protected with fur or thick woollen mittens; but on our feet we wore nothing over our ordinary strong boots. Had there been a brisk breeze blowing